Nurse gets probation in hospital drug theft case

Posted
Friday, April 8, 2016 6:24 am

The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. &GT;&GT; A nurse who pleaded guilty to stealing prescription painkillers from the western Massachusetts hospital where he worked has been sentenced to two years of probation, including three months of home confinement.

Daniel Herlocker, who worked at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Springfield.

Prosecutors say the 41-year-old Brattleboro, Vermont, man withdrew morphine and hydromorphone from an automated dispensing machine at the hospital in the fall of 2014 for his personal use and replaced the drugs with saline solution.

He pleaded guilty in January to acquiring and obtaining controlled substances by deception and subterfuge.

Sentencing was delayed last week while the judge weighed whether prison time was warranted. The sentence was less severe than the three years' probation recommended by prosecutors.

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